Don't Stand So Close to Me
by achangeofscenery
Summary: A story of a challange to love and determination to be with whom one pleases. Lauren Snyder finds herself falling in love with a man she shouldn't have even looked at. Justin Hammond knew he met trouble. It came in the form of Lauren Snyder.
1. Prologue

**Don't Stand So Close to Me**

**A novel**

**By: Whitney Bernard**

**PROLOGUE:**

"Lauren, honey… just tell me what Mr. Hammond did to you? Did he hurt you?" the portly detective Steve Markham asked in a sweet voice.

It was just like on T.V. The police sweep in to 'save the day', haul you into their headquarters making assumptions about something they know nothing about, and talk to you like you're a child. She wasn't a child. Legally, yes she was a minor but on the outside Lauren Snyder was a goddess. Her long strawberry blonde hair hung to the middle of her back, her almost white blue eyes were wide and held you in a trance. Her long limbs were a golden brown from many years of soccer and volleyball training by the ocean and her tall and lean 5 foot 9 inch frame had to have been sculpted by God himself. She was perfect, every man's dream.

She was not only beautiful but smart and not just book smart. She knew just what to say to get what she wanted. She could charm a snake out of his skin then sell it back to him for twice the price. She was volatile. Her temper was something akin to an atomic bomb going off. You didn't stick around for the aftermath and yet everyone loved her even Mr. Hammond. Being as smart as she was, Lauren was in all the advanced courses for her final year at Sacred Heart Catholic School but her favorite course was one that most eighteen year old girls didn't take… shop. Not shop as in shopping but mechanics as in working on cars, oil, grease, and dirt.

"Never. Justin would never hurt me. He loves me and it's about time everyone started getting that through their thick heads." Lauren replied.

"Lauren, you can't possibly believe he loves you. You're only eighteen. He's older than you. He took advantage of you." Det. Markham said.

"Age is just a number. Justin and I are in love. Why can't you understand that? He didn't make me do anything I didn't want to do. I'm an adult and you can't charge him with anything." She shot back at him defiantly.

"We have evidence that puts you two together before your birthday. If something intimate happened between you before you turned eighteen, we can charge him with statutory rape. Lauren, if you love him like you say you do, tell me what happened. Tell me if he hurt you." He replied.

He loved her, she was sure of it. They wouldn't have gone through a year of agony if he didn't. He wouldn't have waited for her.

"Fine, I'll tell you everything. When I'm done you all will feel like idiots." She said after a moment.


	2. Chapter 1

PROLOGUE:

**CHAPTER ONE**

One year earlier

The summer had been a long one in anticipation for her senior year to begin. She'd spent the summer in Lake Tahoe with her parents as she always did even though she'd fought with her parents to take her somewhere better. Staying in a log cabin for 8 weeks with bugs and snakes wasn't her idea of fun in the summer. About a week after she'd arrived to her family's cabin she found her way to a secluded area of beach to sunbathe.

She had her beach towel laid out on the sand along with her favorite Jane Austen novel and was applying oil to her legs when the most horrifying monstrous creature she'd ever seen in her life leaped on her drooling.

"Get off!" she screamed as she tried to push the animal's paws off her Tommy Hilfiger designer bikini.

"Oh my God, I'm so sorry." A deep voice said as the animal was miraculously lifted off of her.

Looking into the sun she could only see the outline of the man. The curve of his arms from the toned muscles, the trim abdominal muscles, and muscular calves stood in comparison to the work of Michelangelo's _David. _Pulling her stare from him to an enormous ball of fur at his feet she reared back.

"What the hell is that thing?" she asked in disgust.

"It's a dog." He answered with sarcasm.

"No shit Sherlock. I knew that. Does he always do that?" she asked dusting the sand off her oily legs as she stood up to get a better look at the man.

He was beautiful. His green eyes reminded her of the emerald's her mother had in the safe and his black hair was short in style but if one looked right they could see the waves of what would be curls if he grew it out. Even when he didn't smile there were dimples on either side of his gorgeous mouth of perfectly white teeth.

"Not really… he got away from me on the path back there. Are you hurt?" he asked smiling. There… that smile made her knees shake and almost give out on her causing her to lose her balance. He reached out to grab her arm and slid his other arm around her waist.

"Are you okay? It's pretty hot out here today." He said steadying her.

"I'm… I'm okay. Sorry I… I don't know what happened." She lied. She knew exactly what happened. He was sweeping her off her feet without even trying. What a pathetic lump of mush she was being.

"Hammond. Justin Hammond." He said putting his hand out shake hers.

"Lauren Snyder." She said putting hers in his. What was surely just static cling shocked her fingers causing her to jerk her hand back.

He eyed her suspiciously before replying, "Well, Lauren let me make it up to you. How about we head over to the Lake House on the eastside for a light lunch?"

A date? He was asking her on a date. He had to be at least twenty-five she was sure. Her mother would kill her but, she thought with a smile, what Barbie didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

"Sure. Let me get these all together." She said turning to put her belongings back into her beach bag.

Justin took the bag from her as they began their walk to the Lake House.

"Where are you from?" he asked as the "dog" ran ahead of them.

Her toes sunk into the hot sand as the wrap around white skirt clung to her legs.

"Orange County." She replied.

"You know that narrow's it down really well." He replied rolling his eyes.

Laughing she said, "You didn't ask for specifics. Dana Beach if you must know."

"A hole in the wall town. I should know I just got a job there." He said tossing a stick for the "dog" to fetch.

"Really where?" she asked as she watched his arms flex with the minimal effort of throwing the stick.

"Sacred Heart Catholic School. I'm going to be teaching the shop class there starting next semester. I just finished getting my bachelor's in mechanics at UCLA. It took me awhile to realize that a college education is what's really important. I hope to help those kids realize that one day." He said.

Sacred Heart!? No, no, no, no… this wouldn't be happening to her. The most gorgeous man she'd ever met was a _teacher_ at her school!? There's no way she'd tell him she was a student there. He could find that out _if_ he ever saw her at the school in September.

"I know the school, but I thought they only allowed priests and nuns to teach the classes?" she asked curiously trying to find out why he was an exception to the rule.

"Normally they do, but Father McLaughlin was my parish priest when I was younger. He actually owed my dad a favor." He replied with a wink. "What about you? What do you do?" he asked turning to look at her.

"I… um…", She stuttered as she thought of something he couldn't possibly know anything about. Then it hit her, "I'm a youth coach for Dana Beach's Rec. Center." Okay so it wasn't the absolute truth. She was the volunteer _assistant_ youth coach for the fourth and fifth grade soccer classes.

"Really? That's pretty cool. You know working with young kids. That's one of the reason's I applied to Sacred Heart. To help young kids learn how to do something I love at a grade school I used to go to. What grade school did you go to?" he asked as they walked up the sun warmed sidewalk to the Lake House.

"Oh, I was home schooled." She lied. Somehow it was getting easier to lie to him but it hurt a little more. "Now I'm doing online classes. I kind of have to work right now and I didn't really want to leave my parents." She said as she pulled her sunglasses off in the air conditioned building after he'd given the dog to animal attendant outside.

From the outside it looked like a regular, albeit a large log cabin, while inside was an interior designer's dream. The rustic charm of the Lake House was accustomed to fur carpets and deer head's on the wall while still remaining soft and even feminine. He guided her by putting his hand on the small of her back sending heat sizzling throughout her body. They sat at a small café table on a portico overlooking a breathtakingly beautiful view of the lake.

"Can I take your order?" a waitress asked eyeing Justin hungrily.

Lauren put her hand over Justin's as she looked at the waitress, "How about some Iced Tea?"

"I'll be right back." She replied as she gave Lauren an evil glare.

"That was low." He said laughing.

"What?" she asked horrified that he might have caught her rearing her claws at the waitress.

"That… that brazen and bold way of saying 'Back off bitch, he's mine." He answered.

She was sure her cheeks were bright red as she put her head in her hands, "Oh my God. This is so embarrassing."

He was laughing at her. Not just a 'ha ha' laugh but a gut busting laugh. The kind where you're in pain from laughing too hard.

"Stop!" she replied grinning. Slowly she began laughing too. Something in her snapped and she let out her worst habit. She snorted.

He paused and stared at her as she covered her mouth in shock. Then he began to laugh again even harder which caused her to laugh harder and snort again. It became a cycle. She'd snort and they'd laugh harder. After they'd attracted every single person's attention they were actually almost finished laughing when an older woman walked up to their table.

"Lauren Delaney Snyder." She said calmly. "Care to introduce me to your friend here?"

Lauren looked up to find her mother, Barbara Jocelyn Delaney-Snyder, standing before her. She brought herself erect and stood before her mother.

"Mother, this is Justin Hammond. Justin this is my mother, Barbie." She replied using the name her mother hated hoping she'd go away.

"Nice to meet you." Justin said bending to kiss Barbie's hand.

"And you young man. How'd you find such a gentleman, Laurie?" Barbie asked using the nickname she'd given her daughter to annoy her. They'd always been at each other's throats. Barbie had wanted a boy the whole time she was pregnant with Lauren while her husband Daniel "Jack" Snyder would think nothing of it.

"A girl, Barb. That's what we want. Someone I can spoil along with you, my dear." He'd say and Barbie should have known that Jack Snyder always got what he wanted. He'd even gone so far as to have a vasectomy just to make sure Lauren was his only child.

"I didn't find him mother. His dog found me. Please go away." She replied sitting down in a huff in her chair.

"Now, now Laurie… don't let young Justin see what a rude little girl you are. He'd have to move on to someone older and wiser." She said eyeing the eye candy that was Justin Hammond.

"Now Mother." Lauren snapped.

"Oh fine. Be home at a decent hour please." Barbie said as she walked away from the table wiggling her rear as she did so.

"You have a curfew?" Justin asked.

"No!" she practically shouted. "I mean, of course not. I'm an adult. She just doesn't want me to disturb her beauty sleep when I come home tonight that's all."

"I can understand that. Why do you call her Barbie?" he asked.

"She's a bitch and she hates the name. It pisses her off to hear it so I call her that. Same reason she calls me Laurie." She replied.

"Seems logical." He said as the waitress came back to the table smiling brightly at Justin.

Giving in to the fantasy she'd created earlier he winked at Lauren and took her hand.

"Babe, I think we should get some chocolate syrup and whipped cream… to go." He said looking at her with sultry eyes.

Finding it hard to breathe, she replied rather huskily, "Whatever you say."

He turned to the waitress, "You heard my woman."

The waitress turned towards the bar and returned with two full containers of chocolate syrup and whipped cream along with their check.

Justin stood pulling Lauren up with him and wrapping his arm around her waist. He pulled out a fifty dollar bill and flung it on the table. He stuffed the bottle of chocolate syrup and the container of whipped cream in her beach bag, smacked Lauren on her rear before pulling her into one of the most incredible kisses she'd ever felt.


	3. Chapter 2

PROLOGUE:

**CHAPTER TWO**

After seeing her on the beach beneath Barnard being drooled on he couldn't resist getting to know Lauren Snyder. Almost immediately he knew she had been lying about her age. She couldn't be any more than eighteen but she seemed fairly mature for her age. After having such a wonderful time with her he'd decided to go along with how she'd acted in front of the waitress before. He'd seriously been joking when he'd asked for the chocolate syrup and whipped cream. He didn't actually expect the girl to bring them to the table or let alone charge them for it. And only because it seemed right at the time did he smack Lauren's beautifully crafted rear. It didn't even jiggle under his rebuff. It was firm from years of extreme athletic training. The look in her eyes caught him by surprise as he smacked her. There in this barely legal teenager's eyes was desire. She wanted him and to his own surprise he wanted her.

He leaned halfway down to her and pulled her the rest of the way to him. Slowly he let his lips fall on hers. Heaven… she tasted of heaven. That's the only way he could possibly describe it. He felt her gasp under his lips and used it to his own advantage. Slowly he slid his tongue next to hers deepening the kiss. No, what he'd experienced before wasn't heaven… this had to be it. Or it was some way of giving him something he'd knew he wouldn't be able to just forget. Nope… her kiss, the taste, the feel of her lips beneath hers would stay with him for the rest of his life.

Lost in her, he almost didn't feel her pull back a fraction. He looked down into her light wide eyes and couldn't believe it. He knew he shouldn't have done it. Every instinct in his body was telling him to hightail it the other direction. Every bone in his body told him to get as far away from her. But his heart wanted to pull her into his arms and protect her. He wanted to protect her from the rest of the world and in particular her mother. He was sure he couldn't take it if she ever cried in his presence.

"Justin… people are staring at us… again." She whispered as she shoved her face into his chest.

God, she didn't know what she did to him.

"Come on, let's get out of here. Barnard's probably dying in this heat." He said kissing the top of her head and walking with his arm around her shoulders.

"Barnard?" she asked.

"The dog… you know the one who gave you a shower." He said holding the door open to find Barnard sitting on a poodle.

"You call that thing a dog?" she asked giggling.

He lifted the monster off the white fluff ball and put his face next to Barnard's.

"Aw, Lauren, you know you can't resist this face." He said puckering his lips up.

She laughed and shook her head, "Come on. Let's go for a swim."

"A swim? I don't have my suit." He replied wriggling his eyebrows.

"Don't think so… that's for afterhours." She said pulling him down the path towards the crowded beach.

"I hate crowds. How about we go to the community stables? A little horse ride?" he asked.

"What about Barnard?" she asked putting her hands on her hips.

"We've both got to change before we are able to saddle anything. I'll meet you there in fifteen minutes." He answered while unwrapping Barnard's leash from around his body.

"Okay… fifteen minutes." She replied before blowing him a kiss and heading in the direction of her family's cabin.

True to her word she was standing at the gate of the stable yard waiting on him fifteen minutes later. She wore a pair of faded denim jeans, a white lace tank top, and brown cowboy boots that had seen many a year. Her long hair was plaited down her back in a single braid. She wore a pair of black sunglasses to shield her eyes from the sun. He thought she looked amazing. He wore his own denim jeans and an old black Sex Pistol's tee shirt with a pair of black cowboy boots.

"Took you long enough." She said as she pushed the gate open.

"Hey looking this good doesn't just happen when I roll out of the bed." He replied as they walked into the stables.

She swatted at him and said, "You should have let me believe it just happened. I knew it was too good to be true."

He laughed and helped her ready her horse then turned to ready his own.

Minutes later they were guiding their horses through a meadow of wildflowers. She leaned over her horse and pulled a bright purple from the ground.

She put in behind her ear and said, "I'm not who you think I am Justin."

"And who are you? Oh God, you're not a man are you?" He asked playfully.

She laughed, "No… I'm a woman… well sort of."

"It's okay Lauren. I kind of figured you weren't in college at least not yet." He replied.

"No, not yet." She said as she pulled her horse still. She turned to him and looked him in the eye. "Promise not to be mad at me?"

"Um… okay." He promised wondering what could possibly warrant him being mad at her.

"Once I tell you this I understand if you never want to see me again." She said obviously trying to put off what she wanted to reveal about herself.

"Lauren, just tell me." He said taking her hand.

She tightened her grip around his hand, "I…" she paused and breathed in through her nose then quickly let it all out. "I'm not in college. I haven't even taken my S.A.T.'s yet. I'm seventeen and a senior at Sacred Heart Catholic School."

He just stared at her. She was seventeen? A senior? At Sacred Heart?

"You're joking." He said. "It's not a good joke either."

"Justin, I'm not joking. I was born September 5th, 1990." She said seriously.

"Labor Day." He said staring off into space.

"Seventeen years ago… September 5th… 1990." She repeated.

He shook himself out of his reverie, "Lauren, this can't happen."

"I know that in my head. But everything thing else is telling me there's nothing wrong with it. Age is just a number, Justin." She said.

"Justin… Oh my God, you're going to call me Mr. Hammond. Lauren, you're seventeen. Do you even know how old I am? Do you care?" he asked.

"No… I won't call you that. Do I look like I'm going to take shop? And I don't care how old you are. I told you age is just a number." She replied.

"Lauren, I'm twenty-seven. I'm ten years older than you. I was in high school while you were still in diapers." He shouted.

"I was not I diapers when I was four thank you very much. And there's no need to shout at me. I don't understand what the big deal is. It's not like we're having sex for Gods sake. We just met." She snapped back at him.

"Definitely not now." He said pushing himself off his horse. He needed stable ground. Something to steady him. She was seventeen. He was driving when she was going into kindergarten. This couldn't be happening to him. A student at the school he was supposed to teach at in the fall. How could this have possibly happened to him?

"What does that mean? You wanted to have sex with me?" she asked innocently.

"Goddammit Lauren, don't. That's completely out of the question. Nothing can happen between us. I'm not going to jail." He snapped at her.

"Justin, I'd never say you forced me to do anything. If… well… if we did do that… it'd be because I'd want to." She said nervously in the seat of saddle.

"What do you want to bet you're a virgin?" he asked nastily.

"Why are you being mean to me? Yeah, okay I lied to you. I'm underage. I'm ten years younger than you. Hell, I'm even a student at the school you're going to be teaching at. I'm still a human and I still have feelings. I like you… and you like me. Don't even try to deny it. Why can't we keep things the way they are and see what happens this summer? If it doesn't mean anything after that we'll act like nothing's happened between us. I all ready told you. I will not be in the shop class. I have a full plate this fall. I'm taking 6 AP courses, soccer, volleyball, my job at the Rec. Center, and still having time for cheerleading. Not to mention prom and dealing with my idiot mother." She argued.

"Oh God, you're a cheerleader." He said shaking his head.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she snapped angrily.

"I'm coaching offense for the football team." He said shaking his head and laughing.

"Oh… you have you're work cut out for you. They really suck." She said grinning.

He looked up at her before reaching up to lift her off the horse. He pulled her down in front of him.

"Lauren, you really don't know what you do to me do you?" he asked as she shook her head. He pulled her into his arms. "I just met you and you're driving me crazy," she opened her mouth to respond, "And not in the insane asylum kind of way. You send me over the edge in the bedroom kind of way. I'm not going to lie. I want you… I like you a lot. I don't know where this is going to go, but I can promise nothing will happen until March… if even then." He said before kissing her lips lightly.

"Justin, you won't regret this. I promise!" she said before kissing him hard on the lips.

Somehow, he thought, I think I will.


	4. Chapter 3

PROLOGUE:

**CHAPTER THREE**

Over the next seven weeks they spent every day together. They went horseback riding and swimming. They took nature walks and had picnics. They sunbathed together pushing their own limit's taking turns spreading sun tan oil on one another. They never went past a make out session or a light petting. Their night's together were spent in many ways. Some nights they'd have dinner at the Lake House and he'd walk her home. Other nights they'd go skinny dipping afterwards. Other nights she'd sneak out of her bedroom window and they'd camp out under the stars. One night he cooked her dinner in his small cabin kitchen. Then one night she was sneaking out of her bedroom window when her cell phone rang.

"Hello." She whispered.

"Why are you whispering? What are you doing?" a female voice asked.

"B… you scared the shit out of me. What do you want?" Lauren asked as she shimmied out of her second story window onto the tree next to her house.

"Great way to speak to your best friend you've been too busy to talk to." Bridget Monahan pouted.

True, Lauren and Bridget had been best friends since preschool and Lauren had always found time to call Bridget. She was a feisty red headed, freckle faced girl who just happened to be a knock out. Problem with Bridget was she knew it and didn't really care what people thought of her. She'd stand up for you and always have your back in a heart beat but when it came down to a guy or you she'd go with the guy in a split second.

"Sorry, B. I've been really busy. I've been doing a lot of activities to keep myself from dying of boredom. How's everything with you?" Lauren said as she managed to slide down the trunk of the tree one handed while Justin sat in a pick up truck at the end of the driveway with the head lights off.

"That just happens to be why I'm calling Laney." Bridget said using the nickname she'd called her best friend for thirteen years.

"Uh-oh, B… what's going on?" Lauren asked stopping in her tracks on the way to the truck.

"It's Paul." Bridget replied over the line.

Paul Jordan was Lauren's ex-boyfriend of three years. They'd broken up right before the school year ended because Paul 'wanted to see what else was out there'.

"What could he possibly want? He dumped me remember?" Lauren snapped turning away from the front of the truck.

"He left for Lake Tahoe this morning. If you'd answered my phone call you would have known earlier. We were at Mikey's party Friday night and all he talked about was you. Somehow he's got it in his head he's going to get you back." Bridget replied.

"Fat chance… look I'll be on the look out for him. I got to go… anyone asks I'm being a good girl and just doing nothing this summer. I'll explain later okay?" Lauren said.

"You better, bitch. This sounds juicy." Bridget giggled.

"Later B." Lauren said before ending the call. She turned around and hopped in the truck beside Justin.

"What was that about?" he asked after kissing her.

"Trouble." Lauren said rolling her window down.

"What? Your parents?" he asked as he drove towards Tahoe City where they'd be able to blend in.

"No, my ex." She mumbled.

"What? Your ex? What's he want?" he asked turning the radio down.

"He broke up with me before the end of the school year. Now he's in Lake Tahoe and he thinks I'm going to come back to him." Lauren said looking out the window.

"Oh, God. Let me guess… he plays football?" Justin asked.

"Yep. He's captain. I don't know where he's at or anything so we're going to have to be really careful." She said moving closer to Justin.

"No Lauren. We have to stop. Someone could see us together and say something to this Paul guy. In the fall he and I are going to be working closely. This isn't good." He said turning onto the highway.

"Well you're not turning the truck around are you? Listen, we can just back off after tonight. If I catch up with him I'll get rid of him. If we run into you I can tell him the truth. Your dog attacked me and you told me you'd be teaching at the school. I'll even call you Mr. Hammond if you want." She said giggling.

"No…" he said fighting a grin.

"Aw, come on… Mr. Hammond." She said picking on him now.

"Stop it." he said suppressing a laugh.

"Why what are you going to do? Send me to Mother Superior's office?" she said poking him in the arm.

"Dammit." He said before he burst into laughter.

"See you can't stay mad at me. It'll work out Justin, just relax." She said laughing.

"Okay… we'll see what happens. I just don't know what I'm going to do without you until he shows his face." Justin said pulling her into the middle seat beside him as he wrapped his right arm around her.

She laid her head against his body and said, "How about you grade some papers?"

"Funny… I don't see myself giving a lot of homework. What am I going to tell them to do? Bring in a carburetor from your family vehicle." He said laughing.

"No… just make them write ten thousand word essay's on how to dismantle and engine and put it back together." She said laughing.

"Yeah right. I want them to like me, remember?" he replied.

"Yeah, I can tell you the people that are going to be taking your class are going to be the trouble kids. Maybe even Paul himself. He's got this GT he's been working on since we were fourteen." She said.

"Really? I'd like to see it." he said obviously interested.

"You're kidding me? You want to spend time with my ex-boyfriend?" she asked sitting up to look at him in the moonlight.

"Not with him per say. Just the GT." He answered smirking. He bunched up awaiting the smack that he knew was coming from her. Only this time it was a punch right in the gut.

"Uh!" he grunted as the air escaped from his lungs.

"Asshole." She mumbled as she scooted back into the passenger seat.

"Come on Lauren. I was just kidding." He said. "Please?"

She looked at him reluctantly and found him giving her a beautifully done puppy dog face.

"What do you want for your birthday?" he asked. "We'll get it in Tahoe City tonight."

"My birthday isn't until Monday and I don't want anything. I have everything I want right here." She said poking him hard in the leg.

"Ouch, seriously what do you want?" he asked rubbing where she poked. "Your abusive you know that?"

"I know." She said avoiding the subject of her eighteenth birthday.

"Answer me." He said while changing lanes.

"About what?" she asked innocently.

"Don't do that. Just tell me what you want for your birthday and it's yours." He replied.

"Anything?" she asked arching her eyebrows.

"Anything your pretty little heart desires." He replied.

"You." She answered turning to put her shoeless feet on his lap under the steering wheel. She slid her foot between his legs and massaged his thigh.

"Lauren…" he warned breathing heavily.

She snapped her foot back quickly and asked innocently, "What did I do?"

"You know damn well what you're doing." He said coughing.

"If you'd only give in to me it wouldn't be so bad would it." she replied laughing.

"Yeah you're right. I'd just spend the rest of my life in jail." He shot back sarcastically.

"I don't mean now. I'm serious Justin. I want you for my birthday." She said.

"You don't mean that. You don't know what's going to happen. You don't want to just sleep with some random person." He said shaking his head.

"You're not a random person, Justin… I… I care for you… a lot." She replied.

"I know that, but caring and love are two different things. You're too young to know what love is." He said slowing to stop at a stop light. Once he came to a full stop, Lauren got out of the truck.

She was stalking away when he realized she'd gotten out.

"Lauren!" he shouted as she kept on walking. He turned right down the street she was walking down and slowed to a crawl beside her.

"Lauren, get in the truck." He said.

"No." she answered shortly.

"Lauren, I'm serious. Get in the damn truck." He shouted at her.

She stopped, turned to him, and replied flatly, "NO."

"God dammit Lauren. I'm not going to lose this argument. What if someone kidnaps you?" he said slamming down on the breaks, putting the truck in park, and getting out of the truck.

"Oh and because I'm a 'kid' I'm going to get kidnapped?" she yelled at him.

"What the hell are you talking about? I never said that. I'm trying to protect you. You're to young and innocent to be walking around in the dark all alone. Anything could happen to you. I'd blame myself if something ever happened to you." He shouted back at her.

"Oh, I'm tired of hearing I'm innocent. You bet me that I'm a virgin. You're wrong! I'm not. Okay!? Are you happy now?" she shouted at him through tears, "Justin I'm not a kid. Just because I was born one year too late for you I'm a kid. That's not fair. It's not fair that I can't be with you around people. We have to sneak around all the time. I want to shout from the roof tops that I'm in love with you. There… I said it. I've been fighting it for seven weeks now. I'm completely, idiotically, fall-on-my-face in love with you!"

He stood there stunned.

"See you can't even say anything!" she shouted at him before running into the playground next to them.

His eyes followed her but his feet wouldn't move. She loved him… he'd been doing the same thing. He'd probably fallen in love with her the moment he'd seen that damn dog drooling all over her. It's what he's been doing ever since. She was perfect except for one thing, she was too young. He'd been kidding himself to think he could make it work out. Nothing was going to hide the fact that she was barely eighteen and he was three years shy of turning thirty. He'd give her up… she deserved better than him.

He finally made his body move and eventually found her in the swings sobbing. He took her hand and led her back to the truck. She sobbed in his lap half the way back to her cabin and the other half she slept. She looked so peaceful laying there sleeping soundly.

Silently he drove back to her cabin. He put the truck into park and looked down at her. She was so beautiful. He wanted nothing more than to run away with her and protect her from the world, but his logic got in the way of his heart.

Slowly he eased himself out of the truck and with hardly any effort he lifted her into his arms. Carrying her to the porch swing was an easy task but once he'd done that he still had to walk away. He grabbed a napkin from the glove compartment of his truck and wrote one word. He stuck it in her hand and covered her with his flannel shirt. With a swift kiss to her eyelids he stalked back to his truck and drove away as the sun was coming up.

Barbie opened the screen door to her front porch to find her daughter in the front porch swing.

"Lauren? What are you doing out here?" she asked.

Lauren opened her eyes slowly. As she moved her hands to push herself up she found his note. All that was written on the single napkin was one word, "Good-bye."


	5. Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Hinder's 'Better than me' echoed in the cabin as Justin walked through the front door. He knew the ringtone on his cell phone all too well. He'd given it to Lauren's number earlier. It'd been ringing nonstop for the majority of the morning. She had been calling him since he'd left that morning and had left numerous messages, but he couldn't bring himself to listen to them. He knew if he'd even so much as heard her voice he would probably break down and give in to her. He'd driven around all morning convincing himself that he did the right thing by Lauren. He'd all ready decided he'd be leaving before Lauren's Labor Day/Birthday Bash on Monday. He'd been invited a few weeks before, but going now was completely out of the question.

He threw his phone onto the beat up couch and walked right to the cabinet above the stove where he'd kept the only bottle of liquor in the whole cabin. Screw packing he needed a drink. He needed something, anything to help him push Lauren from his mind. The way she smelled, the way her hair blew in the wind when they walked on the shore of the lake, the way her nose would crinkle right before she'd giggle, and possibly the worst of it all, the way her face looked when he didn't tell her he loved her too. That… that was enough for him to discard the glass in the sink with a crash as it broke while he gulped down the fiery Jack Daniels.

Once he'd finished the bottle he left the cabin to retrieve more. On his way back from the local liquor store he couldn't help himself but to drive by Lauren's family's cabin. He slowed to a crawl behind an oversized magnolia tree and eventually stopped. He could see her sitting in a swing hanging from a high redwood tree. She was looking down at a boy in a white tee shirt and jeans. He was on bended knee looking at her seemingly pleading with her. Stretching forward, Justin leaned down on his horn to get a better look. As the horn echoed through the countryside, Lauren looked up from her admirer. She looked Justin right in the eye before allowing a smile to play across her lips.. God, she was beautiful even with a tearstained face. Tears he'd put there. He couldn't take it anymore. Justin looked away first and put his truck into drive and roared away.

"Lauren, are you listening?" Paul Jordan asked taking Lauren's hand in his.

"I'm sorry Paul. What were you saying?" she answered pulling her away from his to grasp the worn rope from the swing. She'd been in a completely different world since Justin had left her on her porch with that stupid, stupid napkin. Her mother had woken her up when she found it in her hand. Lauren couldn't remember what happened next very clearly. She knew that her mother thought she was having a heart attack. Lauren had thrown the flannel shirt off of her and clutched the napkin in her hands to her chest gasping through tears. It had felt like someone was tearing her heart out. How could he do this to her? He had just told her last night that he didn't want anything to happen to her. Did that mean he was the only one who could hurt her but no one else could? She left her thoughts once again to attempt to listen to Paul.

"I was explaining to you what a jerk I've been. I was wrong. I broke up with you because things had fallen into a routine. We'd do the same things every day and I thought that I wanted something different. I know now that I was wrong. I wanted to see if there was something or someone else out there. Not that you aren't enough for me, Lauren. I just wanted to see if someone else could love me the way you do. So… what do you say? Give me another chance?" Paul asked.

Just then a horn cut through her answer to Paul. She jerked her head up to find Justin in his truck behind a magnolia tree. He looked like hell but she couldn't help but hope, hope that he had changed his mind. A split second of eye contact was broken as Justin drove away with a roar of the old engine. She watched as he drove away as she tried to understand it all. If he didn't love her, why was he here in the first place? She was interrupted from her thoughts by Paul Jordan on his knees in front of her.

"Lauren, are you even paying attention to me?" he asked sharply.

She looked down at Paul whose sharp scowl turned into a soft smile. He hadn't been all bad and they'd had fun the past three years, hadn't they? Surely she'd get over Justin one day, right? Why not have some fun while she could? And Paul was easy to do that with.

She smiled back and replied, "I heard you loud and clear Paul. You got your second chance." Paul whooped and pulled Lauren into his arms as he whirled her around in a circle.

Justin had only bought one bottle of liquor before seeing Lauren again, now he was on his way back to the liquor store. Once inside the store he chose more than a few bottles of Jack Daniel's and was waiting in line to pay when a familiar yet slurred voice whispered into his ear.

"Why Mr. Justin Hammond, how have you been?" Barbie asked sweetly smelling faintly of lavender and mostly vodka. Lauren had told him she was an alcoholic, but seeing it with his own eyes made him want to smack the woman upside the head. She had a beautiful daughter who only wanted love from her instead she was in here drowning her sorrows because her husband was sleeping with his secretary.

"Mrs. Delaney- Snyder." Justin answered with a nod of his head then turning to the clerk as he set the bottles on the counter.

"Weren't you just here?" she asked curiously.

"Long story short, I'm single again." He snapped at the girl.

"Nonsense, call me Barbara." She said purring lightly. "You and your lady aren't together anymore? That's a pity. What happened?"

Not quite sure how to explain to her that her own daughter had confessed her undying love to him and he'd frozen up, he simply said, "Commitment issues."

"Oh, what a pity! You know Justin, your young. You'll find someone who'll make you a lovely wife." She replied.

His heart couldn't help but break a little as he thought about the idea of Lauren as his wife. He'd come home to her after teaching and molding young minds. There could possibly be a little girl the spitting image of her or a little boy who had her eyes who'd run into his arms when he walked in the door. They would all eat dinner together and once the little ones were in bed he and Lauren would spend the night in each others arms without worrying if someone would pull the rug out from underneath them. At the simplicity of the thought, he smiled at Barbie as he handed the clerk his credit card.

"Justin Monday is our lovely Lauren's eighteenth birthday. You should come. I'm sure Lauren would love it. She mentioned that you'll be teaching at Sacred Heart in Dana Beach?" Barbie said.

"I'm sorry Barbara. I'll be leaving tomorrow. There are too many memories here. But please, give Lauren my unending birthday wishes. Tell her I hope she gets what she wants in the future." He replied as he turned away after signing the credit card slip.

Suddenly he turned back, "Can you tell her one more thing for me?"

"Of course." Barbie replied.

"Tell her that she should always go after what she wants and to never take no for an answer." He said with a smile before turning around to leave to store.

What the hell was he thinking? Now Lauren's going to come after him and in the middle of a school year. He was a dumbass. That's all there was. Okay so that bottle of Jack Daniel's he'd chugged at his cabin had hit him quicker than he thought. He needed something to eat to absorb some of the liquor.

Lauren and Paul walked into the kitchen to find Barbie mixing margaritas and dancing to salsa music clearly very drunk.

"Oh God. Paul just go on. You'll come to my party won't you?" Lauren said pushing Paul out the back door.

"You bet. Tell Barbie I said hi." He called as he laughed his way to his prized Mustang GT.

Lauren turned to find her mother trying to take her clothes off.

"Mom! No… stop!" she said as she attempted to control her mother.

"Oh, Lauren!" Barbie replied as she stopped moving. "You'll never believe who I saw at the liquor store!"

"Who, Mother?" Lauren said absently guiding her mother to the living room couch.

"That Justin Hammond fellow." She replied slurring her words and causing Lauren to stop dead in her tracks.

"You saw Ju- I mean Mr. Hammond at the liquor store? What was he doing?" Lauren asked shaking her mother.

"Don't!" she replied shoving Lauren away. "He was buying the store out of Jack Daniel's."

He doesn't drink. Why is he pouring himself into a bottle of whiskey?

"He told me to tell you something to." Barbie said sitting up.

"What, Mother? What did he tell you to tell me?" Lauren said urgently.

"Something about going after what you want and not saying no? Does that make sense to you?" Barbie asked.

Lauren smiled brightly, "Perfect sense mother. It means there's hope. My life isn't over and I have your wonderful love of the drink to thank! Let's celebrate!"

Lauren and her mother toasted each other sloshing frozen margaritas all over their arms. Lauren was celebrating for a love that wasn't lost and Barbie was just plain celebrating. The rest of the night Lauren and her mother got along better than they ever had.


End file.
